Monday, September 28, 1998

Deion Sanders reflects on troubled past

IRVING, Texas (AP) - Dallas Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders described how he attempted suicide last year when his marriage was crumbling, his father was dying and everything seemed to be falling apart.

"You're on the run, trying to reach out and hold on to something desperate," Sanders said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "NFL Today."

"The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy. And he was trying to murder me, and I was about to let him do so. And there came that fatal attempt."

Sanders said he tried to kill himself about a year ago by driving his car off a cliff in Cincinnati, where he was playing baseball for the Reds.

"I attempted suicide, but God had his hands on me," Sanders said. "I ran the car off the cliff, and it was like a 40 ... 30-foot drop. The car went down and hit and there wasn't a scratch on me or on the car."

Sanders estimated he was driving "about 65 or 70 mph" at the time.

He said he turned his life around after the crash and now loves the Lord with all his heart.

"You try to fulfill your time and your needs," he said. "I was just empty. I tried cars, jewelry, clothes, women, money. ... Everything, nothing could fulfill me.

"I know who I am, what I am, where I'm going and how to get there."